Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Cuddling Koalas

Well I am an absolute fail at weekly updates already! Sorry. Anyway last week was full of firsts: first class, first tutorial, first pub crawl, and first time holding a koala. Let me tell you that the koala and pub crawl were definitely the highlights of my week. We started class on Monday, and I'm not gonna lie, I loved every second of my first class. Crime and Deviance in Australia has to be my most interesting class by far. We are going to learn about stalking and cults, and much much more. Tuesday, I had love sex and relationships. That class was pretty awesome, I've definitely learned some things already. Wednesday, I had Applied Crime Analysis, which is kind of like criminal profiling combined with crime scene investigation. For homework, we looked at pictures of dead bodies, which I won't lie disturbed me to no end. I never really thought about my career before that day, but when I saw those photos I was like "omg this is what I'll be doing for the rest of my life". Strange. Thursday, I had motivation and emotion, which I definitely didn't find as interesting as I though I would. That was also my first tutorial - its like an hour a week where you go over what happened in lecture and ask any questions you may have. In my tutorial on Thursday we watched a movie about motivation and how someone becomes motivated. The pub crawl happened on Friday so of course instead of staying in and preparing on Thursday night, we ended up going out and having a blast. At least that's what I've heard... Anyways, Friday was mostly a slow day, until about 3pm when we got ready for pub crawl which was happening at 4:30. That night was pretty fun and I met a lot of awesome people. I refused to drink too much. I did not want to be that girl. The one who is so drunk she can't stand up and makes out with anyone who will have her so I paced myself. I'm really glad about that decision because it was a long night and ended with me and Brynn having an awesome heart to heart as I cooked spaghetti. Speaking of food, we have literally gone through so many groceries since I've arrived. Collectively I think we have spent at least 500 dollars on groceries over the past one and a half week. Since cam's a vegetarian we make a whole lot of pasta, which I think I'll be sick of by the end of the month. Anyway, Saturday we woke up and made our way to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. It was a hike. We took a train to the Robina train station, then took a train to Brisbane, and a taxi from there to the sanctuary. It was amazing seeing the animals up close. We literally got to lay down next to kangaroos and hold koalas. I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have that experience. How much I appreciated my parents, and what they had allowed me to do. They not only allowed me to leave the nest, but to go thousands of miles away and become my own person. I hope that I can live up to their expectations. That I come home a changed person - a better person. I want nothing more than to find myself. Sunday was the first day I was truly homesick. I remember I just wanted a hug, but everyone who usually makes me feel loved and shows me were literally miles upon miles away. I thought that it would just be like a phase last like an hour, but it lasted for hours until I finally broke down and skyped my friends. I won't tell you how I reacted to seeing their faces, but I just knew that they'd be the only ones besides my parents who got to see me break down. They told me that they wanted to know everything - "the good, bad, and ugly" and I spent two hours on skype telling them all about my week and how everything here was going. Brynn thinks that talking to them will make me even more homesick, but sometimes its good to know that they are still thinking of me. That they haven't forgotten about me just because I'm far away. I feel like I will always be able to rely on them, even when we leave college. We won't leave each other.